The addition of a second team increases HScott’s overall ability to better utilize its resources at track and at the shop to be even more competitive. I’m proud to have seen Justin truly mature as a NSCS driver last year, and I can’t wait to see what he does this year. Like Justin, Michael is coming off his rookie year following six years of competition in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Michael is a quality driver with a great future at HScott Motorsports. These drivers compliment one another and will make great teammates.

Don’t bet against him when he wins the pole for a NASCAR Nationwide Series race.

Kyle Busch did both on Saturday, and with working for him, Busch blew away the opposition to win his sixth race at the one-mile flat track in the Sonoran desert.

The driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota finished the ServiceMaster 200 more than four seconds ahead of race runner-up Justin Allgaier, who passed series leader Austin Dillon for the second position on the final lap.

Dillon held third, followed by Regan Smith and Sam Hornish Jr., whose deficit to Dillon in the championship battle grew from six to eight points.

Busch led 169 laps en route to his 12th NASCAR Nationwide Series victory in 25 starts this season. Busch extended his series record for wins in the series to 63. The pole was Busch’s 10th of the season — on nine occasions this season, he has converted the top starting spot into a victory.

“It was certainly a great day for us,” Busch said. “It’s a testament to (crew chief) Adam Stevens and the group of guys that he’s got around us that do such a great job for us and work real hard and give us some great equipment.”

With a bold move from the outside lane, Brad Keselowski powered past Busch into the lead after a restart on Lap 112, but the tenure of the No. 22 Ford at the front of the field was short-lived.

Busch, who slipped to third on the restart lap, regained the second spot on Lap 117, overtaking Harvick for the position. Three laps later, Busch and Keselowski were side-by-side at the start/finish line, with Busch nosing ahead as the cars crossed the stripe.

Busch began to inch away over the next 10 laps before Brad Sweet’s spin in Turn 3 brought out the third caution of the race on Lap 130. Diverging strategies scrambled the running order as five drivers — Bayne, Hornish, Allgaier, Smith and Scott — opted not to pit under the yellow, leaving Busch to take the green from the sixth spot on fresh right-side tires.

Four more cautions followed in short order — in a race that had run under green for 100 laps between the first two yellows — and allowed Busch to pick off the cars running on old tires. Shortly after a restart on Lap 154, he passed Allgaier for the lead.

“When we got back in traffic there, the restarts just worked out perfectly for me,” Busch said. “We went green, I picked off a spot, we went yellow. We went green, I picked off one or two more spots, we went yellow.

“So every time I just kept picking off a car, and the caution would come out, so it would just re-bunch the field and give me another opportunity, instead of having it spread and take more to get back to the front. So it worked out real well for us in that situation.”

Twelve laps before Busch made the winning pass, a tap from Scott’s Chevrolet had knocked Keselowski’s Ford into the Turn 3 wall in an accident that had serious implications for the owners’ championship. Entering the race, the No. 22 led the No. 54 Toyota driven by Busch by 26 points, but Keselowski’s wreck, coupled with Busch’s win, trimmed the margin to four points with one race left.

Kenseth pulled away after a restart with five laps left and won going away, as Paul Menard edged Regan Smith for second on the final lap. Busch ran fourth after causing the final caution by sending Keselowski into the fence on Lap 188.

Justin Allgaier ran fifth, followed by Austin Dillon, who took the series lead from Sam Hornish Jr., who came home 17th. Dillon leads Hornish by eight points with four races left in the season.

The victory was Kenseth’s second of the season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, his first at the 1.5-mile speedway and the 28th of his career.

To Kenseth, the key to the win was his ability to clear the rest of the field after the final restart.

“I knew it was important to get going,” Kenseth said. “Regan gave me a little bit of a push there. The 31 (Allgaier) was pushing the 54 (Busch) as well. I had just enough speed to get around ‘em off (Turn) 2. I had ’em cleared off of 2, which was a big key, because I could use the whole track from there.”

Keselowski surged into the lead after a restart on Lap 151 but surrendered the top spot to Kenseth on Lap 166. Busch caught Keselowski a few laps later, and as the cars that were 1-2 in the owners’ championship standings battled for the second position, Kenseth’s lead expanded from 1.4 seconds to more than 2.5.

With Kenseth streaking away, Busch closed up on Keselowski’s rear bumper. Contact from Busch’s No. 54 Camry sent Keselowski’s No. 22 Ford spinning toward the infield grass and then back up the track rear-end-first into the outside wall.

“Really?!” Keselowski said incredulously on his radio as his car began to spin.

Keselowski climbed from his car, which was unable to restart, ran toward Busch’s pit and saluted his rivals’ crew, then headed full-speed toward the infield care center, as Busch and Kenseth rolled toward a five-lap shootout for the win.

But Kenseth pulled away after the restart as Busch was shuffled back to fifth, leaving Menard and Smith to settle second place between them on the final lap.

After the race, Keselowski expressed his displeasure and suggested he may exact retribution during the final seven Cup races. Busch is third in the Cup standings, contending for what would be his first championship. Keselowski, the reigning champion, missed the Chase this year.

“I got wrecked by a dirty driver,” Keselowski said. “There’s no other way of putting it. He’s cool with that. I have raced him really cool over the last year to be respectful to him and try to repair our relationship…

“He put me in the fence in Chicago in the Truck race, and the Nationwide races he has been pulling this crap. It is not going to last, I can tell you that. I feel bad for the guys next to me (indicating the No. 54 team) that are going to have to fix his stuff. That’s going to be part of racing and they are going to have to deal with it…

“Now we’ve got war.”

Busch took responsibility for the incident but dismissed it as a racing accident.

“It was hard racing,” Busch said. “There were a lot of moments where maybe I felt a little crowded, but the contact there that ultimately ended it… I just got real tight off (Turn) 4. I’ve been battling tight underneath him and behind him and everything else, and finally I thought I had a run, and I tried to stay in the gas so I could get a run on him and get to his quarter and side-drafted him down the front straightaway.

“I got too tight, got inside his wake and just got too close to him and spun him out.”

As to Keselowski’s comments, Busch shot back: “Brad Keselowski knows what dirty drivers are because he’s done it plenty of times. But I have yet to wreck a person on purpose…I got wrecked for the Chase spot by Brad Keselowski (in 2012) and then had an opportunity to wreck him a few times throughout the Chase and didn’t.

“(I) let him and Jimmie Johnson battle it out on their own, and ultimately he won the deal. If I wanted to, I could have cost Brad Keselowski a championship, but I’m a bigger person than that.”

In fact, when Kyle Busch wins the Coors Light Pole for a NASCAR Nationwide Series race, as he did Friday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway, the rest of the field might as well start writing concession speeches.

Pulling away from runner-up Brad Keselowski over a green-flag run that consumed the final 72 laps, Busch won his sixth NNS event at the .533-mile short track. The victory was his ninth of the season and the series-record 60th of his career.

In winning for the 15th time at Bristol across NASCAR’s top three series, Busch led 228 of 250 laps. The pole he won earlier in the day was his sixth of the season. Each time, Busch has gone on to win the race.

The victory set up a try for a second weekend sweep at Bristol for Busch, who started with a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win on Wednesday night. To win Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race in the Sprint Cup Series, however, Busch will have to come from the back of the field, having spun during his Cup qualifying attempt Friday afternoon.

“You’ve gotta win two to go for three, and this is ‘two,” Busch exulted in Victory Lane.

When Busch wrecked during Cup qualifying, many in the crowd cheered loudly. But Busch found perhaps the best revenge — winning, and winning emphatically, scoring his 19th Nationwide Series perfect driver rating of 150.0.

“It comes from preparation, it comes from the shop, it comes from practice here,” Busch said in explaining his dominance. (Crew chief) Adam (Stevens) and I – we work real well together. Those guys work hard. Today – just a great car and great job by these guys putting together such a great Monster Energy Camry.

“It was a lot of fun tonight. It’s cool when you can start up front, lead laps like that, but yet you have some battles with holding off the 22 (Keselowski) and having to pass the 32 (Kyle Larson, who led briefly after a restart on Lap 110) – just a fun day. Whether you’re cheering of booing, don’t matter. We’re here to win races, take trophies home and that’s what we’re going to try to do (Saturday) night, too.”

“We were close, just not quite good enough,” Keselowski said ruefully. “We just came up a little bit short. Obviously, on the track, I didn’t have quite enough speed to get by Kyle.”

Brian Vickers’ wreck out of Turn 4 on Lap 167 continued a succession of trouble for series championship contenders. By the time Vickers nosed into the inside wall on the frontstretch, Regan Smith already had lost two laps pitting under green because of a loose wheel.

Sam Hornish Jr., the points leader entering the race, also struggled, losing a lap to Busch on the track. Shortly after a restart on Lap 179, Hornish’s Ford slapped the outside wall in Turn 4 and fell back to 13th, one lap down.

Elliott Sadler also went a lap down with an ill-handling car but got it back with a free pass as the highest-scored lapped car after the caution for Vickers’ accident. Sadler finished 10th, two positions ahead of Hornish. Smith was 21st and Vickers 24th.

Notes: Hornish retained the series lead by six points over Dillon… In the battle for the owners’ championship, Busch’s No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Camry cut the lead of Keselowski’s No. 22 Ford from 22 points to 16.

]]>http://lead-lap.com/2013/08/25/busch-wins-at-bristol-for-60th-nationwide-victory/feed/0Allmendinger Wins N’wide Series Race At Road Americahttp://lead-lap.com/2013/06/22/allmendinger-wins-nwide-series-race-at-road-america/
http://lead-lap.com/2013/06/22/allmendinger-wins-nwide-series-race-at-road-america/#respondSat, 22 Jun 2013 03:46:29 +0000http://lead-lap.com/?p=9625How do you find just the right gift to say “thank you” to a man who seemingly has everything?

That’s the dilemma A.J. Allmendinger has faced since billionaire team owner Roger Penske gave him a second chance to redeem himself following last year’s embarrassing suspension for violating NASCAR’s substance abuse policy.

Saturday, Allmendinger finally found the way. It took two green-white-checker restarts and five extra laps (55 in total), but he easily earned both his first career NASCAR and Nationwide Series win in the Johnsonville Sausage 200 Presented by Menards at Road America.

“This is the only way I could repay him,” Allmendinger said of Penske. “It’s just cool to win for Roger. It’s what I’ve wanted since last year. … I wish he was here to be able to say, ‘Thank you, boss, I got one for you.'”

It was Allmendinger’s first start in a Nationwide Series race since 2008. But he’s no stranger to victory lane at the 4-mile Road America road course, having won there in the now-defunct Champ Car World Series in 2006.

“It’s my favorite track now,” Allmendinger said with a smile. “It’s a lot of fun. This track is still the same racetrack I remember. The same characteristics still apply to both race cars. The track is still the same thing with how you have to get into the corners and where the grip levels are in the corners.”

Earlier in the afternoon, Allmendinger won the Coors Light Pole Award with a lap of 109.233 mph, his first pole in nine career Nationwide Series races.

Penske asked Allmendinger before last month’s Indianapolis 500 if he’d be interested in competing in a couple of upcoming Nationwide Series races. Saturday’s race at Road America was the first and Allmendinger will race again August 17 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

“We’re going to try and get another one there,” Allmendinger said.

After Owen Kelly shoved series points leader Regan Smith into Billy Johnson, sending all three cars sailing on Lap 47, Allmendinger took the green flag two laps later.

But that was short-lived as on Lap 50, which should have been the second-to-last lap, Michael Annett took a spin, got stuck in rain-soaked grass and brought out the eighth and final caution flag.

On the second GWC restart on Lap 54, Allmendinger’s Ford Mustang dueled with Justin Allgaier’s Chevrolet Camaro, but pulled away at the start of the 55th and final lap and won by a comfortable 1.372-second margin.

“I knew the car was quicker than everybody,” Allmendinger said. “I still knew if I could get back the lead, as long as I didn’t make any mistakes, they weren’t going to pass me.”

Allgaier finished second, followed by Parker Kligerman.

“I’m still not a road racer, I can assure you of that,” Allgaier said. “Just watching A.J. and seeing some of the places he was able to go on that last green-white-checker, I still have some stuff to learn.”

Added Kligerman, “It’s just complete chaos most of the time near the end of the race and all you hope is you put yourself in the right place amongst the chaos and hopefully it goes your way.”

Owen Kelly finished fourth, followed by Sam Hornish Jr.

Sixth through tenth were Brian Vickers, who will also race Sunday in the Sprint Cup road course race at Sonoma Raceway, followed by Kyle Larson, Cole Whitt, Elliott Sadler and Austin Dillon.

Because of the tangle he had with Kelly and Johnson on Lap 47, series points leader Regan Smith dropped from fifth to a disappointing 32nd-place finish, one lap down from the winner.

Smith also saw his 58-point series lead cut to just a 28-point edge over Allgaier and 30 points in front of Hornish.

NOTES: When asked if there are enough road courses (three) on the current Nationwide Series schedule, Allgaier and Kligerman were quick with their answers. “Not enough,” Allgaier said. “If we had 10, that’d be perfect. I’m not a road racer, but I love it. I’m not good at it, but I love doing it.” Added Kligerman, “More, more. It’d be awesome (to have 10).” … Here’s an interesting irony: the top three finishers are all current or former Penske Racing drivers. “Two former Penske drivers finishing second to a Penske car,” Allgaier said. “I think A.J. did a great job today.” … Vickers is the only driver to do the “double” this weekend, racing at both Road America and Sonoma. His total travel from Charlotte to Wisconsin to California and back: approximately 6,300 miles. … Dexter Stacey was replaced on the fourth lap by Tim Andrews in the No. 92 Ford. Stacey, who was involved in a hard wreck last week at Michigan, reported residual soreness in his chest and requested a relief driver.

With a push from teammate Kasey Kahne, Smith roared out of the pack during the final 400 yards of a green-white-checkered-flag finish and won a race decided when NASCAR called the seventh and final caution an instant before the four cars battling for the win crossed the finish line.

Smith was the leader as the field was frozen when NASCAR called the caution. Kahne was first across the stripe but was scored in third place behind Smith and Joey Logano, who were the two lead drivers when the caution lights came on.

This was the same Regan Smith who was deprived of victory in a race he thought he had won at Talladega in 2008, when NASCAR demoted him to the 18th position for passing Tony Stewart below the yellow boundary line as the cars approached the checkered flag.

“I was having flashbacks, sitting on pit road–I’m not going to lie–when they were making the decision,” Smith said. “I was like ‘Man, I hope we got it–I’m pretty sure we got it when the flag came out and I saw the lights come on… They only thing I didn’t know was if they took it all the way to the stripe.

“I don’t know if it’s vindication or not. I think I’d gotten over that and gotten past that, but I definitely wanted to win here … but you want to win every week, and it definitely helps wipe that bad memory away of sitting on pit road and finding out you’re 18th instead. So, yeah, that was kind of cool.”

Smith took over the series lead, by 27 points over Sam Hornish Jr. in a race whose start was delayed three hours because of rain. It’s the first time JR Motorsports has led the Nationwide Series standings. It was also the first victory as a crew chief for Greg Ives.

Kahne was surprised NASCAR called the final caution instead of letting the race play out to conclusion.

“I think there’s been plenty of times (when) there’ve been wrecks in (Turn) 4 or 3, and we’ve just raced to the line at the end,” Kahne said. “As soon as they started wrecking, I saw the caution. I still raced to the line, and we had a good enough run to get there and be first there, but I was surprised the caution came out.

“I knew I was third when the caution came out, and I knew I was first at the line… My spotter after the race was like, ‘I think we won,’ but I was thinking the whole time, ‘There’s no way. The caution was out.'”

Busch was leading on Lap 93 when contact between Hornish’s Ford and Eric McClure’s Toyota ignited a spectacular 12-car wreck that sidelined the series leader entering the race (Hornish), among others.

NASCAR then opted to shorten the race by 10 laps because of impending darkness, but four laps after a restart on Lap 101, Joey Coulter’s contact with the outside wall caused the sixth caution and set up the two-lap dash to the finish.

On Lap 14, Danica Patrick spun off the bumper of series rookie Kyle Larson, her Turner Scott Motorsports teammate-for-a-day and slid though the waterlogged infield grass, damaging her No. 34 Chevrolet extensively. After losing a lap on pit road, Patrick brought the car to the garage and called it a day.

Patrick, hardly a grizzled veteran herself, attributed the wreck to Larson’s inexperience with the tandem racing that characterizes the Nationwide Series at restrictor-plate tracks. Larson, who was attempting to push Patrick’s car when the wreck occurred, found trouble of his own on Lap 35, when he blew a tire, spun and took Jeffrey Earnhardt’s Ford with him.

The hardest hit of the race, however, came on Lap 71 when pole sitter Travis Pastrana nosed into the outside backstretch wall during a three-car incident that started when Brian Scott turned the Ford of Reed Sorenson.

Sorenson hit the outside wall and spun back across the track into Pastrana’s path. Pastrana blamed himself for being in harm’s way and for not reacting quickly enough when he saw Sorenson spin.

“I just get an award for being stupid,” Pastrana said after leaving the infield care center. “We had the two fastest cars on the track (with Roush Fenway Racing teammate Trevor Bayne). We could have been a half-lap down just pushing each other, not worrying about anything.

“We all said we were going to sit back the whole race, and then, all of sudden, we’re up there racing just like a bunch of fools up front… Everything kind of happened.”

]]>http://lead-lap.com/2013/05/06/smith-wins-wild-nwide-at-talladega/feed/0Two RCR Crew Members Arrested After Fight At Richmondhttp://lead-lap.com/2013/04/30/two-rcr-crew-members-arrested-following-altercation-after-toyotacare-250/
http://lead-lap.com/2013/04/30/two-rcr-crew-members-arrested-following-altercation-after-toyotacare-250/#respondTue, 30 Apr 2013 04:25:36 +0000http://lead-lap.com/?p=9385During the the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond International Raceway, Brian Scott was involved in a crash with Justin Allgaier and Austin Dillon. He suffered minor damage.

In the closing laps of the race, Scott was limping to a 15th-place finish when he got together with Nelson Piquet Jr, which knocked Scott out of the groove in Turn 2. Scott dropped from 15th down to 20th.

On the cool down lap, Scott, of Richard Childress Racing, cut in front of Piquet, or Turner Scott Motorsports.

When the two cars stopped on pit road and exited their cars, Piquet pushed and kicked Scott, a kick Scott called “below the belt.” The two crews almost came to blows.

Scott said:

I was just showing my displeasure with him after the race and then things escalated. I went to talk to him, I was a little heated and the camera probably shows it, but he kicks me right below the belt, which I think is a below-the-belt type of shot.

Scott and Piquet were called to the NASCAR hauler.

Evidently, an earlier incident between Dillon, also of RCR, and Allgaier, of TSM, caused the tension between the two teams. The incident between Scott and Piquet only intensified the tension.

Later, Henrico County police were called to the driver/owner lot at Richmond and two RCR crew members were arrested. Michael A. Scearce and Thomas F. Costello, of RCR’s No. 2 team, the car driven by Scott, were taken into custody for their part in an alleged assault in which two adult males were injured. Both were charged with misdemeanors and released.

Richard Childress talked about the incident:

I didn’t witness what took place last night outside of the race track. Our team members were walking to their cars and words were exchanged with members from another team, which led to an altercation. I am still learning all the exact details and, because it did happen outside of the track, local authorities became involved. We are working with them to resolve this matter.

Turner Scott Motorsports released a statement:

Turner Scott Motorsports can confirm that an incident occurred near the Driver/Owner parking lot of Richmond International Raceway following the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Friday, April 26th. Several members of another race team confronted a group that included Nelson Piquet Jr., resulting in the arrest of two individuals from the other race team. TSM will have no further comment on the incident as the matter is an active case with the Henrico Police Department.

Update: NASCAR found that Richard Childress Racing crew members Thomas Costello and Michael Scearce were in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) of the NASCAR rule book. Both crew members were suspended for four Nationwide Series events, and both were each fined $15,000. They were also put on NASCAR probation until the end of the calendar year.

Update 2: Richard Childress Racing appealed the penalties handed down by NASCAR. After reviewing the facts, the National Stock Car Racing Appeals Panel decided to uphold the original penalties. RCR can now appeal this decision to the ational Stock Car Racing Chief Appellate Officer John Middlebrook.

]]>http://lead-lap.com/2013/04/30/two-rcr-crew-members-arrested-following-altercation-after-toyotacare-250/feed/0Busch Dominates At Phoenix For 52nd Nationwide Winhttp://lead-lap.com/2013/03/07/busch-dominates-at-phoenix-for-52nd-nationwide-win/
http://lead-lap.com/2013/03/07/busch-dominates-at-phoenix-for-52nd-nationwide-win/#respondThu, 07 Mar 2013 04:31:15 +0000http://lead-lap.com/?p=9211Nothing was going to keep Kyle Busch out of Victory Lane on Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway.

Not a pit road speeding penalty. Not a spate of cautions that kept bunching the field. Not Brad Keselowski, who in the past has found magic out front on old tires.

The prohibitive favorite in the Dollar General 200—after he won the pole in a laydown earlier in the day—Busch overcame a speeding penalty that dropped him to 22nd position for a restart on Lap 44.

That was a momentary setback. Working his way through traffic in short order, Busch passed Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth for the lead on Lap 89. He lost the top spot briefly by pitting under caution on Lap 152, as Keselowski and three other drivers remained on the track, but Busch regained the lead on Lap 164, clearing Keselowski as the cars streaked into Turn 3.

Busch stayed out front the rest of the way. The victory was his first in the No. 54 Toyota and a record 52nd in the Nationwide Series.

“It’s great to be back, working with (crew chief) Adam (Stevens) and these guys,” said Busch, who was winless last year in the Nationwide Series driving for his own team. “It was a bummer deal not to be able to get a win at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) last year, but (owner) Joe (Gibbs) putting me back in his operation and being back with the Joe Gibbs Racing side of things and Mark Cronquist engines, it’s a phenomenal day for us to get back to Victory Lane, to feel the taste of it again.

“I was almost nervous, feeling like it was my first win, although it’s win No. 52 in the series. It’s nice to be back.”

Keselowski held second by stretching his fuel to the end without pitting. Justin Allgaier ran third and leaves Phoenix tied for the series lead with Sam Hornish Jr., who came home seventh. Trevor Bayne and Elliott Sadler completed the top five.

Jimmie Johnson, using a rare Nationwide Series appearance to get some extra laps on a track that has befuddled him since its resurfacing in 2011, finished 12th.

Even though he tried a contrarian strategy, Keselowski knew that tactics alone wouldn’t be enough to overcome Busch’s advantage in speed.

“I knew I had a shot if something happened to Kyle, and we had to put ourselves in position for good things to happen,” Keselowski said. “But Kyle’s car was so fast. I probably could have had four tires and he could have had none, and it still wouldn’t have mattered. He’d still have drove through the field.

“When you have that much speed, you’re pretty much immune to strategy.”

Beginning his fifth full season of Nationwide racing, Allgaier is off to the best start of his career.

“The first five (races) kind of get you kicked off for the next 10 or 15,” Allgaier said. “This has been huge for us, for Turner Scott Motorsports. Our program has come a long way during the offseason. I’ll be the first to tell you that, at the end of the year last year, we were kind of scratching our heads. We knew we had a great organization. We just didn’t know what we were missing.

“Everybody at the team really buckled down … This is the strongest season start I’ve had. I hope we can keep that going and transfer it into a championship.”

The race wasn’t yet two laps old when Johanna Long drove hard into Turn 3 and tagged the back of the Ford of Hornish, the series leader entering the race. With the front of her car damaged by the contact, Long slapped the wall exiting Turn 4, triggering a chain-reaction wreck that collected five other cars, including those of Hornish (who had fallen behind her) and Travis Pastrana.

“I don’t know; it just took off on me,” Long said of her contact with the wall. “I got in a little too hard, there (into) Hornish, felt bad, got under him. I got into the gas, and it just took off.

The aftermath of the wreck turned bizarre when the scoring transponder from Jamie Dick’s car (another victim of the accident) lodged in the nose of Hornish’s Ford. Though Hornish lost two laps on pit road while the transponder was removed, NASCAR restored the No. 12 to the lead lap because the extraction — to prevent Dick’s car from being scored improperly – was ordered by the sanctioning body.

Hornish’s travails weren’t quite over. After restarting sixth on Lap 109, Hornish spun in Turn 2 a lap later to bring out the fifth caution but remained on the lead lap. The nose and hood of his car heavily taped, Hornish salvaged the seventh-place finish.